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1 









Mr. ^GRAY'S LETTER 



GOVERNOR LINCOLN 

ON 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 



/? 



1 



LETTER 



GOVERNOR LINCOLN, 



JN RELATION TO 



HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 



r/ 

BOSTON 
FROM HALE's steam-power-press 

W. L. Lewis, Printer, No. 8 Congress Street. 
MDCCCXXXI, 



TO HIS EXCELLENCY 



LEVI LINCOLN, 



GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Sir, — The various reports, to the disadvantage of 
Harvard University, which are always circulating 
among us, have been recently urged with so much zeal 
and vigor, and such an appearance of uniform and 
organised effort, that some of its friends are appre- 
hensive, lest these attacks, keeping each other in coun- 
tenance by their noise and their numbers, and making 
up in activity what they want in strength, may im- 
pair the credit or diminish the usefulness of the In- 
stitution, if they remain any longer unanswered. 
Yielding reluctantly to the wishes of these friends, I 
have at length determined to answer such of the reports 
in question as 1 have heard and can comprehend. This 
letter is addressed to you, Sir, because, as Governor of 
the Commonwealth, you preside over the Board of 
Overseers, and therefore it seemed not improper that 
it should be so ; and because your name may give it 
some consequence, and thus occasion it to be more 
extensively read. It is written without consulting any 
other member of the Corporation. It is written with- 
out fear for the cause, which will triumph as soon as 
it is understood. It is written without anxiety ; for 



all these clamors seeui to ine a good omen ; thej show 
that the enemies of the College are alarmed ; and at 
what are they alarmed but at the apprehension of its 
prosperity ? Having a higher opinion of their sagacity 
than of their fairness, I rejoice in their fears. 

I disclaim all attacks on the personal character of 
any individual, or of any class, party, or sect. It is 
no uncommon thing to respect a man and not his ar- 
guments ; or to respect th<3 arguments and not the man. 
In speaking, therefore, of the arguments or pretensions 
advanced by any man or set of men, either in their 
own behalf, or in that of others, it is my intention to 
say what I think of the arguments and pretensions 
themselves, without the slightest reference to the pri- 
vate characters of those, by whom or in whose behalf 
they are urged. By the term enemies of the College, 
i do not mean any particular sect or party, for I 
know none, which allows any man to call it so ; but 
I mean those, of whatever party or sect, who are 
united in hostility to the Institution. Xor do I apply 
this term to all. who have made complaints against the 
College. Xo doubt many of its friends have been de- 
ceived, and join in these calls for information from a 
sincere desire to see its government properly adminis- 
tered. If any of the objections \Ahich I shall answ^er 
have been made both by friends and by enemies, the 
former will understand me as answering them in the 
spirit of friendship. But the tone, in which some of 
these calls are made does not please me, I do not 
admit tiie absolute right of anonymous writers to 
make any such call. Vvhat claim have they to any 



control over the College, or to any explanation of its 
affairs ? An exact scrutiny by the proper authority 
into all our public institutions is right ; but positive 
assertions without knowledge, charges without in- 
quiry, and condemnation without proof or hearing, are 
not right. And is this the proper authority ? We 
have been told, indeed, that these demands upon us 
are made by the Public. But surely every anony- 
mous writer in the newspaper cannot call himself the 
Public, and make claims upon us in that capacity. 
At least w^e may say, ' come out and show us what 
sort of a Public you are.' I have no desire to call 
them out. Sir, nor any care about it ; but till they do 
come out, I say they have no right to make such 
claims. 

The State, it is said, founded the College, and there- 
fore has a right of visitation over it. But then who is 
the State ? Surely not every person in it. And what 
is the right of visitation ? Is it an arbitrary right to 
question, control, and punish at pleasure ; or is it a le- 
gal right to be exercised according to the forms and 
principles of law and equity ? How is it exercised in 
England, from which we derive the right itself, and 
the form of all our judicial tribunals. Does even 
the King himself exercise it personally ? Not at 
all. The proper tribunal causes all parties in interest 
to appear before it, and after fair notice and full hear- 
ing, and deliberate consideration, does unto them what 
to law and justice may be found to appertain. And if 
Massachusetts should see fit to exercise a similar 
power, she would undoubtedly exercise it through the 



agency of the proper tribunal. It may be questioned 
whether she has not already established such a tribu- 
nal in the Board of Overseers, and delegated to them 
this power of visitation. If it be so, the power is ex- 
ercised every day. But if not, if she still retains a 
right of visitation above and beyond the Overseers, 
how would she exercise it ? She would do what she 
has always heretofore done when she wanted to exer- 
cise equity powers without a Court of Equity ; she 
would enable her Supreme Judicial Court to determine 
the case according to the principles of right and jus- 
tice. At any rate she would do what should be fit 
and proper. I have no fear that she will let her 
power be used as an instrument of injustice by our 
enemies. If she comes in her might, she will come in 
her dignity and her righteousness also, and will not 
smite us right or wrong at their bidding. I feel not 
the least alarm at the intimation, that they can wield 
the power of the State against the College to its ruin, 
and that they are determined to do so. I doubt 
whether they understand the temper of the People of 
Massachusetts. 

So much for their pretensions to the right and the 
power of controlling the College. Now for a few of 
their complaints. The first and most frequent is, that 
there are not so manv students in Cambrido;e as in 
some other Colleges. What then ? There is no In- 
stitution in New-England or in America, in which the 
morals and manners of youth are more carefully or 
more successfully guarded and improved ; none in 
which they can now obtain, I say it boldly and with- 



out disparagement or disrespect of others, an education 
nearly so complete ; and we are every year doing 
something to make it still better. It is indeed for this 
precise purpose that we are committing another of our 
sins ; that of laying up a little money to this end. 
What more can we do ? Let them tell us frankly and 
explicitly what they wish us to do. Are any of them 
actuated by a desire to have the College placed under 
the control of some party, to which they belong ; and 
if they are so, does not this fact alone render all their 
complaints somewhat suspicious ? Are any of them 
among those over-zealous champions, who, stepping 
beyond what moderate and candid men of any party 
would approve, have been concerned in calling secret 
meetings for the purpose of pledging themselves to 
each other to use all their influence, to prevent those 
parents who might otherwise do so, from sending their 
sons to Harvard University ? Or are they among 
those, who are constantly endeavoring to accomplish 
the same object, by proclaiming, wherever they can 
make themselves heard, that every father who sends 
his son there, puts at hazard his salvation, and that 
of all his posterity? And shall these same men, (if 
indeed they are the same,) as soon as their unremitted, 
universal, and organised efforts, have been attended 
with some small success ; so small as to be perceptible 
only to themselves, shall these same men turn round 
on the College and condemn it for the consequences 
of their own proceedings ? Is this fair, or reasonable ? 
I cheerfully leave this question to the good sense of the 
People of Massachusetts. If their complaint be sin- 



8 

cere, and not a mere pretext ; if they really desire to 
have the number of students in Harvard increased, ihey 
certainly have adopted a most extraordinary mode for 
the accomplishment of their object. When did ever the 
friends of Harvard, attempt by secret cabals or open 
clamors, to deter parents from sending their sons to 
any other Institution, vi^hich they might prefer ? If 
they had done so. Harvard would have disowned them. 
And after all, how much truth is there in the asser- 
tion ? There are more students in Cambridge, I be- 
lieve, than in any other College but Yale ; and let it be 
considered how many are induced to go to Yale by the 
great amount of charitable assistance received there 
from the society for theological education, and from 
other funds. Last year one hundred and forty- 
four undergraduates received charitable aid in Yale, 
and only thirty-four m Harvard ; and this aid was 
probably necessary for their education in each. We 
are told that some Colleges attract more students from 
other States than Harvard. This is true. Bui she 
attracts many more students from her own State, than 
any other Institution from the State to which it be- 
longs. Which is the greater praise ? 

But the expenses of a student in Cambridge it is 
said, are unreasonably great. That they are greater 
than in some other Institutions, I readily admit. But 
this difference results from the nature of things, and 
not from any fault of the College. These expenses 
are of two kinds ; the expenses of living, and the 
expenses of education. As far as the first are con- 
cerned, there are Colleges in country towns no doubt, 



where rent and fuel and food are cheaper than in 
Cambridge ; and 1 am glad of it, because it enables 
those parents, who cannot afford to have their children 
educated so near the Capital, to give them a better 
education, than they could do, if these Colleges did 
not exist. But then all these things are cheaper in 
the College here, than any where else near it, and this 
by the exertions, and at the expense of the College 
Government. Thus, for instance, they let their rooms 
at less than one half the sum, which a similar room 
cost3 out of College. So by providing dining halls and 
kitchens and furniture, at the expense of the College, 
the cost of board to the students is reduced, much 
below what is paid for it in the neighbourhood, and 
lower thaii it could be otherwise supplied. It is one 
dollar and seventy-five cents per week. If it can be 
had in Amherst for less, we may rejoice in their good 
fortune, but we cannot share it. The young men 
studying in Cambridge, cannot at the same time board 
in Amherst. So of wood. It is bought in the cheapest 
season, in large quantities by the Institution, and dealt 
out to the students as they want it, without profit. No 
doul)t, it is cheaper in the country. But what then ? 
The students must have fires, and while they are study- 
ing ill one town, they cannot keep their fires in another. 
As to the expenses of education itself, including the 
books necessary for it, they are less in Cambridge 
than they can be in any other part of New England. 
With regard to the books, this is obvious. They are 
purchased in large quantities, at the lowest rates at 
which they can be obtained even by booksellers ; 
2 



10 

many are brought from Europe, because they may be 
bought there cheaper thaa in America ; and they are 
sold to the students, like the wood, without profit. 
Now it is impossiI)le that these books can be sold so 
cheap in any country town, as in Canribridge ; for the 
bookseller in the country can get none of them 
cheaper than the Caoibridge student, and for all the 
foreign books, and many others, he must pay more. 
And let him be as moderate as he wil!, he must charge 
on them some proht l)eyond the cost to him, or how is 
he to support himself and his family ? The assertion, 
therefore, that text-books are cheaper in any country 
town than in Cambridge, cannot be true, unless in 
relation to some particular work ])rinted near that 
place, which must be a small matter, and must be 
much more than counterbalanced by the far greater 
number, printed in and near Camliridge. It may be 
true, that the scholar in the country town, pays less 
in the year for his books, but it does not follow that 
his books are cheaper. If he pays tvA'o dollars in a 
year for two books, and the student in Cambridge 
pays four dollars for eight books, each of equal value, 
the former pays only half as much for his books, but 
he pays twice as dear, [f, indeed, any of the Cam- 
bridge books are not worth having, or not worth the 
cost, or not worth as much as the books used else- 
where, the case might be different, but I know no 
reason for making any such conjecture. Let me add, 
that no student is compelled to buy either his fuel or 
his books from the College, but if he can get them, or 
any of them, cheaper in any other manner, he has the 
right to do so. 



11 

So it is with instruction. There may be. less money 
paid for it by students elsewhere, than in Cambridge, 
but they do not get so much of it in proportion to the 
cost; and therefore it is not so cheap. But some 
persons would not have so many books and so much 
instruction. Very well ! Then they do not want a 
whole education, but only half an one. They do not 
want our article. No doubt they can get half an one 
cheaper ; but we have not got it to sell. 

Enormous sums have sometimes been stated as the 
actual amount of a student's expenses in Cambridge ; 
perhaps truly stated. But there is no limit to the 
amount which a young man may contrive to throw 
away, if his friends will let him, and this is equally 
true in all places. The necessary expenses of a 
student at Harvard, including every thing but clothing, 
do not exceed hoo hundred and ten dollars a year. 
If he is allowed to spend thousands, this is no fault of 
the College, but an injury done to it, by him and his 
friends ; and it is not they who have the right to 
complain, but the College Government. 

It has been made a subject of complaint, that the 
College does not now expend its whole income. Last 
year it is said to have received above eleven thousand 
dollars more than it spent. But take a series of five 
or ten years, and it will be found to have laid up little 
or nothing. Some time ago, there were spent for 
many successive years, several thousand dollars more 
than the whole income. Losses will occur in adverse 
times, and if they are not made up in prosperity, their 
accumulation through a long series of years would be 



12 

ruin. The enemies of the College might be pleased 
with this, but it could hardly gratify its friends. Be- 
sides, the capital must gradually increase, to counter- 
balance the diminution of income, arising from the 
gradual decrease in the rate of interest, which seems to 
take place in every flourishing country. For the last 
three or four years, too, we have lost nothing by bad 
debts, and no wisdom or vigilance, can render this 
good fortune perpetual. x4nd, moreover, let the build- 
ings be kept in as good repair as possible, they will 
not last forever. The roofs, the floors, the very walls, 
must be in time renewed, and something ought to be 
reserved for this purpose, and something also to im- 
prove and extend the Institution. And if three or 
four thousand doflars a year, were laid up, for these 
objects, which is more, I believe, than ever has been 
done for five years in succession, should we be 
doing as much in this particular for posterity, as our 
fathers did for us ? Should we be doing even enough 
to keep up the state of education in the College, to 
the increasing demands of the country ? 

It is asserted, that the funds from which this income 
is derived, were given by the State, in order to make 
education cheaper, and that all that income, therefore, 
ought to be applied to this object. But how does it 
appear that they were given by the State? Individuals 
have given money too, and a great deal of it. The 
assertion assumes, that their money has been expend- 
ed, and that the money remaining is that given by the 
State. But may not the fact be otherwise ? Nearly 
all of the grants to the College by the State, were 



13 

made for specific objects, and the money given, 
was expended on those objects. Even of the last 
grant of 1814, one quarter part was expressly given 
for the benefit of poor but promising students, and 
was so applied ; nearly another quarter was designed 
and appropriated for building the Medical College ; 
and more than the whole residue was expended in 
building University Hall. This seems to me, how- 
ever, of comparatively little consequence, since neither 
the State nor individuals, gave their money for the 
sole purpose of making education cheaper, but full 
as much, for that of making it better ; for that of 
building up an Institution which should go on con- 
stantly improving, to meet the expanding views^ 
and supply the growing wants, and sustain the 
rising glories of our prosperous country. Shall it, 
on the contrary, stand still ? What would the best 
education, that could be obtained in New England 
a hundred years ago, be good for now ? And 
will not the best education of to-day, be deemed as 
insufficient a hundred years hence ? I trust that it 
will. Sir, and more so. The ultimate object of all 
these donations, was the public good. Making edu- 
cation cheap, is one mode of promoting that object, 
but not the only one. Let not all the funds then be 
applied to this alone. A great deal has been done in 
this way. Let us do something in the other also, and 
make it better. I will state a few of the measures, 
which have been adopted, to render education cheap 
here. It is estimated that the board, for which the 
student pays one dollar and seventy-jive cents a week, 



14 



r : - : - : s - C i^ge, iakiag all things iBto 
5 fi T s: doUars ami twemtf-fcee cents, 

5 : ^- : . 5 : : f :.: : boards in Commons, re: ries 
half a df^ar a week towards his board. It is noc jet 
three years. 5 : t ' e chai]^ to the students, for in- 
stniction. : r c : was reduced from nin^-se^e". 
dollars, xc t : : - s a jcar ; and, befcxe dc i : : £ 
anj fioithe .rf iiioo, it is best to have a litde : 7 
e^eri^ic^ :: rililj to bear this. 

This s - ^ jUars, maj be thus apporticm- 

ed ; farU^-z.^ : i^. ..i:. „ctioD, not half what is paid in 
the best schods in this Ticinitj; ttcehe for rent of 
room ; six for heating and keeping in cwder the lectme 
rooms, and other pnUic apartmeiTs. jsed bj nnder- 
gradoates ; twdtut for the Stewaiti. Commons, Cata- 
logues, and CcHnmencem^it dinners; tAree for the 
Lalnraiian, and iox keeping the Librarj of thinj-f ~e 
thousand Tcdames in order; iStree for cleaning ? f 
e: ^ :3re of the stod^it^s rooms; and siz ibr 
£r i : ':'?!rs- Of the moderateness of the charr? 
::: :: are alieadj spoken. For every 01 e :i 

:^f : ir: ::::£t5. ihe College pays more than k 
re : s : rom the students. I will not trouble you 
wiiii T : : ' s ::" 1 T z alL The charge for insr: : - 
tkm : 5 T : s : T»!>cvitani- Mow the C : i . i 

pays T 5 T ::\- L ^ w Schod, Medical S : 

and! SchoQl,fi» thePresiiei. P: ss 5 1: 

other :z::-.5 rigRgfi :i :if [zs::i::.::. -:.:. ^.'^yr ..:.": 
c:" ■:;,;'-_. ^ :':-.::s. yzii: ::.^ \::-iico ia£-:. : : ' ' :" - :. 
F:'.:'. v : :.y:.i:-i '-Z-i r :'"'•' si^ients it ici^.vei ;:,;:y- 
t:^L'. :: a:5 e-:i. 12^ tudte dumsoMd, The 



15 

friends of the students, therefore, certainly cannot 
complain. They get now, a great deal more than 
they pay for. In addition to what they gain in their 
board, fuel and books, they get for ninety dollars a 
year, an education which costs one hundred and fifty, 
and which they could not purchase in any other part 
of this country for any sum. When so much of the 
price of their education is given to them, why 
should they claim still more ? 

The money, when any is happily saved, is not 
kept by the College Government, to be divided among 
themselves, but to be spent in the manner most 
useful to the public. There is no difficulty in spend- 
ing the money well ; the difficulty is to get it, and to 
get enough of it to accomplish some great and useful 
purpose. If this shall ever be done, and it shall be 
applied to some purpose perfectly unobjectionable, 
will not the College be condemned for spending 
what they are now condemned for saving ? 1 hope 
not. Sir, but I fear it. How it will be spent I 
know not, but it might be spent in many ways ; 
in building an Observatory, and buying instruments 
to put into it; or a Library, and books to fill it; 
or in founding Professorships, that are already much 
wanted. But let us see whether the greater part 
of this sum of eleven thousand dollars, which we are 
supposed to have laid up this year, is not, after all, 
in danger of being expended before the year is out. 
Two thousand dollars of it, come from the Law 
School, and must, therefore, rightfully be expended on 
the Law School ; so that this sum is at once to be 



16 

taken out of the account of what relates to the under- 
graduates. Five thousand are appropriated to the 
Library, which has been long grossly deficient in im- 
portant books, and is so still. A Professor of Latin 
has been appointed with a salary of ticelve hundred 
dollars a year ; nearly one thousand dollars are paid 
for additional instruction in Elocution : about eight 
hundred have been apjjlicd to enable the Professor of 
Anatomy to give instruction to the undergraduates in 
his department by models : and the place of another 
Professor, absent bv leave on account of sickness, is 
of course supplied at the expense of the College. All 
these expenses will certainly leave no very large sum 
to be laid up for anv general objects, however im- 
portant. Indeed, it may be feared, that even this 
year, our income will be hardly sufticient to meet the 
demands on it. 

Sir. I have just now n:ientioned buying books as one 
fit mode of spending the College funds. There is 
nothing which has been so much complained of as our 
appropriating so much money to the Library. There 
is nothing, which 1 am more ready to defend. The 
Library, sreat as it is. is still deficient, very deficient 
in every ( I (apartment. Few of the Professors, I be- 
lieve, can find in it the books necessary to enable 
them to perform their duties to the College. 

It has been stati-d. that till wiihin three or four 
years, nothing has been appropriated to the Library 
from the general funds of the College since the Ame- 
rican Revohition. When, therefore, we are asked, 
• why spend the enormous sum of five thousand dol- 



17 

Jars in one year upon the Library ? Why not rather 
two thousand ?' I ask, in turn, why not rather twenty 
thousand ? The only answer I can give to my own 
question is, that 1 thought five thousand the nnost we 
could appropriate to that object, with a due regard to 
all the other interests of the Institution. If the books 
bought are all good books, selected so as to be best 
adapted to our present and most pressing wants, highly 
and permanently useful, and cheap in proportion to 
their real value, I can hardly find any other limit 
than our means, to my willingness to buy them. 
There is no department in the Library at all to be 
compared in extent to that, which contains the works 
relating to America, but even this is not complete. I 
had not been in London three weeks last summer, be- 
fore I bought for the Colh^ge, with their mone^y, but 
not without authority, (our enemies are suspicious,) 
four hundred volumes, all relating to America, not one 
of them before in the Library, and many not in the 
country. One of these was the best book on Geogra- 
phy that existed in the time of Columbus, showing 
exactly what was his starting point, what tools he had 
to work with, and of course how much was due to 
his own great genius. Happening a few days after it 
was sent to America, to mention my good fortune in 
finding it, to Washington Irving, he told me that Co- 
lumbus's own copy of it still existed in Spain, full of 
notes in his own and his brother Bartholomew's hand- 
writing, and that if I could find another copy he would 
have a facsimile made in it of all those notes, which 
he stated to be highly interesting, and to contain some 
3 



18 

facts not known to the world. Of course, for so in- 
teresting a purpose, I ordered a copy to be procured, 
if possible, by any labor, or at any price. But after 
the most diligent search, it was impossible to find one 
in London, Paris, or Madrid. This result proved its 
value, and the lovers of Dollars and Cents may be 
gratified to learn that the College can sell it to-mor- 
row for ten times what it cost them. 

But it has been gravely and repeatedly said, ' what 
need of more books ? You have more books now 
than any body wants to read.' That is true ; but not 
more than every body wants to read, or to consult, or 
to refer to. A man does not go into a Library to read 
the volumes in order as they stand on the shelves, or 
to count them. He goes there to find all the good 
books that have ever been written on the subject on 
which his mind is then engaged. To find exactly 
what he wants, exactly when he wants it, may save 
him the labor of a life, or make that life a blessing to 
mankind. Give to Dr. Bowditch thirty thousand vol- 
umes, and it would not compensate him or the public 
for the loss to him of his one La Place. In a country 
where any value is attached to science or to letters, 
there ought to be at least one great library containing 
the means of excitement and improvement for talents 
of every kind, food for all tastes, weapons for every 
hand ; and wherever that Library shall be, there will 
be the centre of instruction for the whole country ; 
there will be the great establishment for education. 
Moreover, nothing wdll tend so effectually to build up 
such an establishment and attract to it efficient teach- 



19 

ers, as a Library equal to their wants ; and we must 
not be content to have only books that will be con- 
stantly used, and neglect to obtain those above the 
common reach. 

Let me suppose, or rather let me state, for I be- 
lieve it is a fact, that a most accomplished Profes- 
sor wishes a particular edition of a book, which is not 
to be found in the country, and desires us to send for 
it, to enable him to explain to his pupils more fully 
the meaning of the author he is required to teach 
them, the charm of his sentiments, and the graces of 
bis style. It is one of those classic writers, who have 
been regarded for more than two thousand years with 
admiration and delight by every man of cultivated in- 
tellect, and refined taste ; who have been his teachers 
in youth, his models perhaps in manhood and his 
comforters in age, his companions at home, his 
guides abroad, shedding light on every path and 
breathing consolation in every sorrow. Will it be a 
sufficient answer to tell him, that though we have not 
the book he wants, we have a great many that he does 
not want, and more than he can read, and bid him 
study them ? If the only use of books were to teach 
us our letters, the argument would be a good one. 
Any book would do for that. But it cannot be list- 
ened to for a moment, by any one, who ever entered 
a library for the purpose of instruction to himself or 
benefit to others. 

The clamors against all classical learning, which 
have been so current among us within a few years, 
have also been pressed into the service of the enemies 



20 

of Harvard. The cause of ancient learning has been 
so ably defended, that I need say little on this head. 
To the question what advantage is there in mak- 
ing use of Greek and Latin sentences, when address- 
ing those who cannot understand them ? I answer, 
none at all, and nobody does it now-a-days that knows 
any better. It was fashionable once, but it would be 
fantastic now. It is in vain to talk of the beauties of 
the ancients to those who will not look at them, and 
could not see them if they did, and yet will condemn 
them ; though, since they have no means of forming 
any judgment whatever, they have no right to pro- 
nounce any. 

But if any young man, having some slight acquaint- 
ance with the classics, should doubt whether there be 
any practical advantage in cultivating it, let him make 
a ^ew experiments of this kind, and then judge for him- 
self. Let him select some striking passage in one of the 
ancient authors, no matter what passage ; let him take 
if he please, that gem of ancient eloquence, the Funeral 
Oration, in the second book of Thucydides, and let him 
translate it into English as well as he can ; and then let 
him look at his work, and what will he see ? If he has 
any taste or feeling, or any perception of eloquence, 
what will he see ? His version shall be as good as you 
please, w^ith the exact form and features of the origi- 
nal, and every shade and line ; but where is the 
graceful movement, the life, the inspiration ? Let him 
turn it over and over to find out the reason of the dif- 
ference, and try to mend it at intervals, and by and by 
he will find, that though he has nothing like the origi- 



21 

nal, he has something much better than his own first 
sketch. After all, to be sure, he has only a transla- 
tion ; nothing of what is called practically useful ; 
nothing he can go to town-meeting and repeat. But 
after a little practice in this way, he will perceive that 
he has acquired the ability to express every thing he 
has to say, more promptly and effectively, and this 
faculty he can carry to town-meeting, or anywhere 
else. And are not frequent and successful attempts 
to imitate good models, the best means of improve- 
ment in every pursuit ? It is difficult indeed ; but it is 
always more difficult to learn an art, than to apply it. 

This is mentioned, however, only as an experiment 
and exercise for youth. The true way to study an 
ancient author is to abandon ourselves to him entirely, 
and let him bear us along with his current. We shall 
thus unconsciously imbibe some of his qualities, and 
acquire without effort, nay, with delight, greater ad- 
vantage than the student can gain by the laborious 
process just mentioned. We may thus learn from our 
model not only to speak, but to think and to feel ; may 
gain not merely facility of expression, but a portion of 
the spirit of his eloquence ; and catch something of 
the freedom and dignity of his action, instead of a 
scrap of his mantle. This is the way to use the an- 
cients, and the way to make the moderns. 

But why not take for models our best English wri- 
ters ? Because they are not so good models. Who 
compares our Statues with the Venus or the Apollo ; 
or our Churches with the Parthenon ? And in the art 
of writing, the difference between the ancients and the 



22 

moderns is greater than in any other art. It is ask- 
ing no great concession to be permitted to assert, that 
people, in general, are most struck with what is most 
striking. Now, who will deny, that in the finest of 
the ancient writers, the beauties are most striking, 
and the faults hardly perceptible ? And who will as- 
sert it of our own ? In simplicity and precision of 
thought, concentration of feeling, and that happiness 
of arrangement and connexion, which make a w^ork 
one compact and harmonious whole, instead of a col- 
lection of disjointed parts, we cannot pretend to be 
their rivals. If we should learn nothing from them 
but brevity, it would be a lesson well worth the labor. 
Many of the most perfect orations, which have come 
down to us from antiquity, may be spoken in less than 
an hour, and I doubt whether there is one, that would 
require two hours for its delivery. We ourselves have 
had a practical lesson about choosing modern models, 
which ought to last at least for a century. The favor- 
ite model of the last generation, and a good part of 
this, was Doctor Samuel Johnson, and every body's 
thoughts were to be clad in his language. A great 
man no doubt, one of the greatest in modern times, 
and so much the better for my argument ; but his style 
was fit for nobody but himself. When all the world 
w^ould imitate him, what w^as the consequence ? An 
accumulation of sonorous epithets, instead of simpli- 
city, precision, and force ; and pages to express what 
might be said better in a single sentence. 

It has been objected to the College, with our other 
literary Institutions, that education there is not suffi- 



23 

ciently practical. Men ought to be educated, it is 
said, for the business of life, and their minds ought to 
be filled with the knowledge of facts and principles. 
This is enough. Thej will find out for themselves the 
way to communicate them. He who can think well, 
we are told, will speak well. This is not always true. 
He who cannot think well, to be sure, cannot speak 
well ; and it is best for him to be silent and to mind his 
work. But he who can think well and does think 
well, will he not speak all the better for knowing how 
to speak too? The giant should not despise his ar- 
mour. Sampson himself would have done better 
with a sword ; and we, who are not Sampsons, can- 
not safely rely upon his weapon. Franklin possessed 
natural powers enough, one would think, to satisfy 
any body ; and he must have been conscious of his 
strength. But he chose to fight with weapons, and he 
went to work to make them. He, to be sure, took a 
modern for his model, not having access to the an- 
cients ; but he was a man to succeed under every 
disadvantage. He tells us himself, how he toiled for 
years to formi his style. It cost him more labor to 
make it, than ever it did to use it. But was it not 
worth making ? What a weapon ! Polished, keen, 
effective ; making every blow tell ; every touch 
electric. 

The other charges against the College, I believe all 
relate to Theological subjects. First, with regard to 
the HoUis Professor, it is said, that the Statutes of the 
Founder are violated, in allowing that Office to be 
holden by one, who does not profess to believe in 



24 

the Trinity. It is alleged, that Mr. Hollis was a 
Trinitarian. But cannot a Trinitarian found a Pro- 
fessorship, to which those, who differ from him in sen- 
timent, may be eligible ? He was also a Christian, 
and may he not have thought it more important to 
promote Christianity in its broadest sense, than any 
particular modification of it ? Mr. Hollis was a Bap- 
tist, but he does not require that his Professor shall 
belong to the same sect. The question is not what 
were his own religious sentiments, but what he meant 
to require of his Professor, or rather what he has in 
fact required. The provision usually cited in this 
controversy is the following Statute ; 

' XI. That the person chosen from lime to time to be a Pro- 
fessor, be a man of solid learning in Divinity, of sound or ortho- 
dox principles, one who is well gifted to teach, of a sober and 
pious life, and of a good conversation.' 

There is another passage, however, which seems to 
me not less important ; ' The Plan or Form for the 
Professor of Divinity to agree to at his inauguration.' 

* That he repeat his Oaths to the Civil Government ; that he 
declare it as his belief that the Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testaments are the only perfect rule of faith and manners ; and 
that he promise to explain and open the Scriptures to his pupils 
with integrity and faithfulness, according to the best light that 
God shall give him. That he promise to promote true piety 
and Godliness by his example and instruction ; that he consult 
the good of the College and the peace of the Churches of our 
Lord Jesus Christ on all occasions ; and that he religiously ob- 
serve the Statutes of the Founder, and all such other Statutes 
and Orders as shall be made by the College not repugnant 
thereunto.' 



25 

Let me call your particular attention, Sir, to the 
manner in which he is to explain the Scriptures. It is 
not accordino; to the light, which was given to Luther 
or to Calvin, nor according to the light given to the 
Founder, nor even according to the light given to the 
Professor himself, at the time of his election, but 
' according to the best light that God shall give him ;' 
that is, of course, at any time. Now, supposing the 
Scriptures interpreted according to the best light given 
to the Professor, ehher when chosen or at any subse- 
quent period, should be opposed to the Trinity, is he not 
here most expressly commanded to explain them ac- 
cording to his light ? But he is also commanded to be 
sound or orthodox, and if Hollis by this meant Trinita- 
rian, then he must at the same time, support the Trin- 
ity. How shall we reconcile this contradiction ? Is it 
not possible that Mr. Hollis might have thought Ortho- 
doxy to be a belief in the Scriptures exactly as they 
are written, allowing each man to interpret them 
according to the best light, which shall be given to him, 
whatever colour that light may put on them. Might 
he not have believed in the Trinity himself, without 
condemning those, who sincerely differed from him on 
this point ; and w^ithout deciding it to be so absolutely 
essential, that all, who doubt it, must inevitably perish ? 
Is not this possible? And if so, will not the supposi- 
tion reconcile this seeming contradiction, and make 
all his directions plain, intelligible and consistent? If 
this question be answered in the affirmative, all doubt 
is ended ; for surely common sense and common rea- 
son, require us to put such construction on every part 
4 



26 

of an instrument, as may make tlie whole of it consist- 
ent with itself. 

Some events, which occurred in the life of Mr. 
liollis, may throw light upon this matter. In the 
year 1718, a few dissenting Clergymen at Exeter and 
other places, in the west of England, having preached 
sentiments which savoured of some douht in the Trini- 
ty, were examined by their parishioners, for the purpose 
of ascertaining their opinions in relation to that doctrine ; 
and when it appeared that they disbelieved it, were dis- 
missed from their offices. This led to further inquiries 
of the same nature, and producing the same results, 
and finally to a controversy, which agitated the whole 
body of the English Dissenters. At length, a meeting 
of the Dissenting Clergy, in and near London, was 
called to be holden at Salter's Hall, in thai city, to 
consider of advices to be sent to their brethren in the 
West. Shortly before the time appointed for this meet- 
ing, a Committee of gentlemen, belonging to the three 
denominations of Dissenters, (of which Mr. Barrington, 
afterwards Lord Barrington, was Chairman, and Mr. 
Hollis, himself, was a member,) prepared '' a paper 
of advices," with the design of healing the breaches, 
that had been made, and promoting charity and 
forbearance ; which paper they recommended to this 
meeting of the Clergy, for their adoption. Its great 
object was, to disapprove the setting up any form of 
men's invention, in matters of faith ; or any other 
test, than that unerring form of sound words, the 
Holy Scriptures. The Clergy met, and one of them 
proposed amending this " paper of advices," by in- 



serting a declaration of their own belief in the Trinity, 
so that they might not be suspected of indifference to 
the truth. This proposition was rejected, by a vote 
o{ fifty-seven^ sg-dinsi fifty-three. It was then propos- 
ed, that, before acting on the advices, they should 
voluntarily sign a declaration, of their belief in the 
Trinity, simply to prevent the fact from being doubt- 
ed. This was resisted, on the ground, that any such 
statement, would seem to warrant the claim of a 
similar statement from others, since the number and 
respectability of the meeting would of itself, confer 
some authority on their declaration, and give it 
the effect of a Creed or Test. Upon this question, 
whether any such declaration of their own belief, 
should be made or not, the meeting separated into 
two parties, and a controversy arose, which raged for 
some time all over England, gave rise to a multi- 
tude of pamphlets, and ended, as such controversies 
usually end, in rendering both sides more violent, and 
more obstinate in their respective opinions. 

Meanwhile, the two parties met in different places. 
One made its declaration of belief in the Trinity, and 
then sent its address, recommending peace and modera- 
tion. The other, refusing to declare any belief at all, 
sent an address, insisting that the Holy Scriptures them- 
selves, are the only rule of faith. The latter, though 
most of them as good Trinitarians as ever lived, had 
their names published in what was called '' The 
Black List — a list of the names, of those Dissenting 
Ministers, who refused to subscribe the declaration for 
the Blessed Trinity." Mr. Hollis' opinion on this 



28 



subject, is apparent from one of his letters, dated 
March 1, 1721. 

* I believe all the gentlemen concerned in signing the letter, 
of whom I was one of the meanest in character, were very far 
from any plot against the honour of our Lord Jesus, whom we 
believe God over all, blessed forever. But if it must be called 
a plot, it was to restrain a few over heated zealots from too rash 
censuring their brethren ; and to look back, I think had there 
not been a majority against subscribing the roll at Salter's Hall, 
at that lime, such a Test would have run through all the 
Churches in England, by this time, which would have endan- 
gered many schisms, and silenced many useful preachers, and 
I rejoice their plot did not succeed.' 

Another letter from Mr. Hollis to a friend in New- 
England, dated August 18, 1722, after mentioning a 
pamphlet, which he had received from R. L Morris, 
then a teacher in the College, proceeds thus : 

* I wish you. Sir, to instruct him a little further in the chris- 
tian doctrine of more extensive charity, and not (to) judge too 
hastily of his neighbour, and exclude from salvation every one, 
that differs from him in explication and belief of the article of 
the Trinity ; a glorious truth it is, but the manner of explaining 
it appears difficult, so difficult, that scarce two can say exactly 
alike, except they agree on a form, and agree to write after it.' 

In the History of the Dissenting Churches, by 
Walter Wilson, a decided Trinitarian, the paper of 
advices signed by Lord Barrington and Mr. Hollis, is 
thus spoken of: 

' In the mean time, a paper of advices was drawn up with 
the professed design of healing the breaches, that had been 
made, and promoting charity and mutual forbearance, but the 
real motive was to screen the ministers at Exeter.'* 
*Vol. III. p. 517, 



29 

If this remark is intended to insinuate that those, 
who signed that paper, desired to screen the Exeter 
Ministers on private or personal grounds, or had any 
other motive than that, H'hich they j)roressed, it is not 
candid nor just. But if it only means, that their ob- 
ject was to heal the breaches, that had been made, and 
promote charity and mutual forbearance, by preventing 
Clergymen in Exeter and elsewhere, from being turn- 
ed out of office, or from being censured or questioned, 
for disbelief of the Trinity, the remark is undoubtedly 
correct. It is most manifest, that this was the precise 
object of Mr. Hollis and his friends. Is it not utterly 
incredible then, that those, who at this day, desire 
to have any man turned out of his office or compel- 
led to resign it, or subjected to censure or scrutiny, 
on account of his disbelief of the Trinity, should pre- 
tend to shelter themselves under the authority of Hol- 
lis — whose example is their condemnation ? The 
declaration above cited, and especially that clause of 
it, which states the Scriptures to he the only perfect 
rule of faith and manners^ as well as the Statutes 
themselves, were evidently drawn up with a full recol- 
lection of this controversy, and of the letter of advices 
recommended to the Clergy. 

There is a document in the College, dated August 
2, 1721, and entitled ' Rules and Orders relating to a 
Divinity Professor, in Harvard College, New England, 
drawn up at the request of Mr. Thomas Hollis, and 
unanimously recommended by us, as necessary to an- 
swer his useful design.' It is signed by seven Clergy- 
men, and agrees in every thing material to this dis- 



30 

cussion, with the statutes adopted bv Mr. Hollis; 
in establishing his Professorship, which statutes bear 
date January 10, 1722. The form of the Declaration 
was added afterwards. 0^ these seven Clero^ynien, 
one signed the declaration of belief in the Trinity, at 
Salter's Hall ; one refused to join either party in 
that controversy, and five are on the Black List. 
Now is it possible to believe, that Hollis and his 
friends on the Black List, aieant to require his 
Professor to submit to a Test, and formally to declare 
his belief in the Trinity: — the very thing they had 
been contending against so strenuously. He is to 
declare, that he will observe the statutes, and there- 
fore be sound or orthodox : and this, we are told, 
ihey meant for a declaration of belief in the Trinity. 
He is to declare at the same time, that he believes the 
Scriptures to he the only perfect rule of faith and 
manners, and promise that he will open them to his 
pupils, with integrity and faithfulness, according to the 
best light that God shall give him. This was the 
doctrine of the opposite party, in the great struggle 
then hardly ended ; and if these two things can stand 
together in the same Instrument, it is a pity, that the 
discovery was not made in season to reconcile the 
disputants, or to prevent their rupture. But if Hollis 
thought it sound and orthodox, to believe in the 
Scriptures, as interpreted bv the conscience of each 
believer for himself, then his direction how to explain 
and open them, is not a contradiction of the soundness 
or orthodoxy ^^ hich he requires, but an explanation of 
it. Is it not manifest that this was his opinion r 



SI 

And was he not right ? Is not this true orthodoxy, 
and every thing else sectarianism ? What is the use 
of a creed ? Do not the words of Scripture, express 
the meaning of Scriptm^e better than any others can ? 
Are not the exact words of every written instrument the 
best evidence, and in law, the only admissible evidence 
of its meaning? It is said that a man must assent to 
something, in order to show that he is a Christian. 
Why not offer him the Scriptures? It takes no longer 
time to assent to a long instrument, than to a short 
one, if it has been read and considered beforehand. 
But then different people interpret the Scriptures 
differently, and creeds are made to prevent this. That 
is the very thing, which no man has a right to prevent ; 
for to do so, is preventing freedom of conscience. 
We are told, however, that every man must have a 
creed, that what he believes, is his creed, and that to 
state it, is only stating his opinions. If this were in- 
deed true, if a creed were nothing but an exposition 
of what is believed by him who makes it, no reason- 
able man could object to it. But it is not so. It is an 
authoritative statement of opinion, and purports to set 
forth, not simply what a man in fact believes, but 
what he ought to believe. This difference, though 
slight in form, is mighty in effect, and inveterate 
enough in its venom, to poison the whole fountain 
of Charity. 

There is precisely the same difference, between 
an opinion and a creed, that there is between the 
argument of Counsel, and the decision of the Court. 
The Counsel sets forth his opinion of the law, 



32 

with his reasons and authorities to support it; but 
when he has said all, he has said nothing binding 
on others, or even on himself, or which any body 
ought to obey. But when the Court gives its opinion 
of the law, this binds itself, and all the world within 
its jurisdiction, and every body must obey it. It is 
true, that a Creed is not said to derive its force from 
the authority of its framers, but from the fact of its 
expressing the true sense of the Scriptures. But 
whether it does express the true sense of the Scrip- 
tures or not, is the very question at issue. It says 
authoritatively that it does ; and that all men ought to 
find the same sense in them. And this is exactly 
what no human authority has any right to say. In 
stating that creeds assume authority, I do not mean 
that they claim, at the present day, the authority of 
Civil Power, but they do claim the authority of Truth, 
which is that of commanding assent. 

The advocates of creeds in our age, admit, indeed, 
that the religious sentiments of an individual ought not 
to be controlled by the authority of the State, or by 
any society, to which he has not voluntarily attached 
himself. But in this exception lies all the evil. A 
man has no right, however voluntarily, to transfer to 
others the power of dictating his faith : and others 
have no right to accept that power. It is not merely 
freedom from the unjust exercise of civil authority, that 
is to be maintained ; but freedom of opinion from the 
authority of opinion, and the man who surrenders this, 
surrenders his liberty. Any association of men, there- 
fore, for the purpose of applying a particular human 



33 

creed as the rule or measure of faith, though it be only 
of their own faith, is an association for a bad purpose. 
These remarks are not applicable to the articles of the 
Church of England, if understood, as Dr. Paley under- 
stands them, to be articles of peace. They would pre- 
sent a very different question, which it is not my design 
now to consider. But it is urged, ' How can two walk 
together unless they are agreed ? ' They cannot, un- 
less they are agreed upon their path ; but they may 
disagree about other things. Let the path be the 
Scripture in the words of the Scripture, and all men 
may walk in it together in charity and peace. With- 
out doubt, every man may endeavor to propagate his 
own religious sentiments by reason, argument, and 
persuasion, and especially by showing in his own con- 
duct, that they are productive of all the virtues, 
including charity; but this does not give him au- 
thority to condenfin the sentiments of others. He may 
allege, that they do not accord with his belief and his 
convictions, but he has no jurisdiction to decide, that 
they are repugnant to the Scriptures. Let no one 
suppose, however, that his belief is a matter of indif- 
ference, and that he may choose what faith he pleases. 
The only, opinion, which any man can innocently hold 
on any important religious question, is that, which he 
finds after faithful and diligent search, by his own 
light, to have the sanction of the Scriptures. 

But it has been asked, if I really believe that certain 
doctrines are essential to Christianity, may I not as- 
sert this ? I answer, certainly, you may assert that 
you believe them essential, for that is an opinion; 
5 



n 



4 



bat not decide that they are essential, for that is a 
jiidgQient. I would ask these inquirers in turn, what 
they think of him, who interpreting the Scriptures ac- 
cording to his best light, considers the same doctrines 
unessential : If they reply that he is right, thev are 
orthodox : if they say that he is wrong, they are secta- 
rians. They are not asked to pronounce their own 
opinions erroneous. I'heir opinions are right for 
them, and his opinions right for him. But they can- 
not claim to determine what is ri^ht in the abstract, 
independently of him or themselves ; for whatever is 
right in the abstract, however determined, is binding 
upon all men, and of course they have no right to de- 
cide it. Their argument is tantamount to this. • I 
sincerely believe, that I have a right to control the 
consciences of men, and therefore I will assert it, 
and act accordingly, for it is a violation of my Chris- 
tian liberty, to prevent my actins: according to my 
belief.' This needs no refutation. In the narrow 
little court of his own conscience, every individual 
is Supreme Judge. The Theologians on all sides, 
may arsue the cause before him, and set forth their 
opinions, their reasons and authorities. But after all, 
he must decide for himself: and if he has any regard 
for his rights or his liberty, he will let no one of 
thenr all usurp his power. This is the only true or- 
thodoxy, and I entertain no doubt, that it was the 
orthodoxy of Thomas Hollis. 

But it is further objected, that a part of the Profes- 
sor's salary is paid from the College funds. Xow 
how can this be otherwise : Since a centurv aso. the 



35 

CoHege made a contract, that for the payment of a 
certain sum of money, they would support such a 
Professor for ever. If the interest of the sum thus 
paid is sufficient for his support, it is very well ; but 
if not, the College must make up the difference, or 
violate the contract. This always has been the case, 
and always must be so, until we shall be willing to 
infringe the obligation, or unable to fulfil it. Would 
it be fair or just to take funds, given to us at the pre- 
sent day for the extension and improvement of the 
Theological Department, and apply them, not to this 
purpose, but to that of relieving ourselves from the 
burden of an obligation contracted by our own volun- 
tary act, in the last century ? 

But there is a Theological School connected with 
the College, and this school is said to be sectarian. 
In what University of New England is not Theology 
taught ? The College has always held funds, to aid 
graduates in pursuing this study ; or at least for more 
than a century ; and the Hollis Professor was always 
bound to give them instruction. In the year 1816, a 
large sum was raised by subscription, to improve the 
education in this Department. Nobody at that time, 
suggested the idea of abolishing it. If it was worth 
having, it was worth improving ; and the money was 
accepted, it was to be appropriated to the use for 
which it was given, by a Joint Board composed of the 
Corporation and of five trustees, chosen by a Societjs 
consisting of the contributors to the fund. About eight 
years afterwards, another sum was raised by subscrip- 
tion, to erect a building, for the use of the students in 



36 

that Institution, and was so appropriated. At the same 
time, it was agreed, that the Society of Contributors 
to the Theological Fund, should appoint a Board of 
Directors, who should regulate and oversee the Theo- 
logical Seminary, under the obligation, of course, to 
submit all their proceedings, according to the Consti- 
tution of the College, to the revision of the President 
and Fellows, who are responsible to the Overseers and 
to the Public, for the managem.ent of every part of the 
Institution, and cannot get rid of that responsibility if 
they would. In this state, things continued till last 
year, when the Trustees and Directors, entertaining 
the opinion, that the public interest did not require 
them to serve the College, in that capacity any longer, 
communicated this opinion to the College Government. 
What could be done or said ? They had served the 
Public seven years, gratuitously, zealously, ably, suc- 
cessfully ; and how could they be compelled to serve 
it longer? All that could be said, was, that we were 
grateful for their services ; and if any other eight gen- 
tlemen will undertake the same labor, for the relief 
and assistance of the College Government, it will no 
doubt be equally grateful to them for their exertions. 

Last year one of the Professors in the Theological 
School resigned his office, and another w^as appointed 
in his place. This opportunity was taken to alter the 
Statutes or Regulations of the Department, and the 
new Statutes were the subject of the discussion last 
winter in the Board of Overseers. They had no 
other object or effect than to determine the duties 
of the different members of the Theological Faculty 



II 



I 



37 

within the Department itself, and to empower that 
Faculty to regulate the Seminary under the control 
of the Corporation ; except in providing, that the 
duty of performing the usual services in the College 
Chapel should now^ be assigned to the three Profes- 
sors, and not as formerly to the Senior Professor 
alone. The President is named head of the Theo- 
logical Faculty ; but so he w^as in the original Stat- 
utes, for which these were substituted. He was always 
head of this, as well as of the Faculties of Law and 
of Medicine, and of every other Department of the 
College, for the plain reason, that it is his peculiar and 
appropriate duty to see that the laws are executed in 
them all. 

But the College Government has sometimes been 
blamed not for what it has done, but for what it has 
omitted to do ; for not separating the Theological In- 
stitution entirely from the College. Sir, I entered 
the Corporation with the strongest conviction, that this 
object was most important and desirable, perceiving 
how much prejudice against the College was caused 
by the union with it of the Theological Seminary, and 
I sat down with a serious design to devise the means 
of accomplishing it. But a difficulty met me in the 
outset, which I never could surmount, and which still 
seems to me insuperable. The funds were all ex- 
pressly given and solemnly accepted for the ])urpose 
of promoting Theological education in Harvard Uni- 
versity. Not a dollar of them could be appropriated 
otherwise consistently with the will of the donors, who 
are so numerous, that it would be quite impossible to 



38 

procure their assent to a change of the appropriation ; 
and many of whom, indeed, are dead. It may have 
been unwise to contract this engagement. But since 
it is contracted, neither wisdom nor honesty will per- 
mit its violation. All that can be done, since the De- 
partment must exist in the College, is to take care that 
it be Orthodox, according to HoUis ; that the teach- 
ers, w^hile maintaining their own opinions, w^hatever 
they may be, which it is clearly their right and their 
duty to do, shall maintain them as arguments, not as de- 
crees ; as opinions, not as a creed having authority. I 
hope that they will do so, and will state fairly to their 
pupils the tenets of other Christian sects, and inform 
them in what works these several tenets are most ably 
vindicated and maintained ; and tell them, after all, 
that none of these doctrines are obligatory, that none 
of them are even right for him, who does not find 
them according to his own light in the Scriptures. So 
I hope, and so I believe. 

But it has been asked, why not put a fair propor- 
tion of Trinitarians into this school, and let each doc- 
trine be defended by its friends ? Sir, if there were a 
vacancy in that school and the man best qualified to 
fill it were a Trinitarian, provided that he were ortho- 
dox also, according to my understanding of orthodoxy, 
I would vote for him to-morrow. But if he w^ould go 
there to maintain, that his opinions w^ere right in the 
abstract, and of course binding, and those of his col- 
leagues abstractly and essentially wrong, and there- 
fore inadmissible and dan onerous ; and to convert a 
Seminary, which ought to be a place of secluded and 



59 

diligent study, into an arena for Theological combats, 
I would not enable him to accomplish this design. 
The only Trinitarians, to whom I object as officers of 
the Theoloo;ical Seminary, are those, who are not in 
this sense orthodox ; and to Unitarians not thus or- 
thodox, I equally object. 

The assertion, which has been made, that a portion 
of the money paid by undergraduates for their educa- 
tion, has been applied to the support of the Theologi- 
cal Seminary, is not correct. It has been already 
shown that the undergraduates do not pay nearly the 
whole expense of their own education, and that 
the deficiency in the salary of the Hollis Professor is 
made up from the funds of the College by virtue of 
the original contract. The whole amount paid to the 
other officers in that Department is thirty-five hundred 
dollars, while the net income of the funds belonging 
to it, including the amount of the annual contribution 
at the lowest rate yet received, and excluding the 
Hollis fund, is stated to me from official sources at 
thirty-eight hundred and ninety-six dollars. 

It is objected that the preachers in the College 
Chapel are Unitarians. But then no student is re- 
quired to hear them. Every one may attend any 
other church, which he or his parents prefer. Our 
adversaries themselves admit the existing law to be 
right in this respect ; but they still insist, that the old 
law allowing the privilege of attending another church 
to Episcopalians only, was most narrow and illiberal, 
and evinces the sectarian spirit in which the College 
Government is administered. This one word ' Epis- 



40 



copalian.* is detected and seized on. and wiihout the 
least inquiry into the occasion or circumstances of its 
use, we are instantly condemned : and all who are not 
Episcopalians are called on to resent the distinction as 
injurious to themsekes. Xow the real truth is. that 
when this law was passed, there v^ere. as I am in- 
formed, only two places of public worship in the vil- 
lage of Cambridge : one the church of Dr. Holmes, a 
good Trinitarian, at which ihe students regularlv at- 
tended, and the other, the Episcopal church : and 
the law allowing: those, v^ho did noi like to at- 
tend Dr. Holmes, to attend the Episcopal church, 
granted all. that could be Hranted. The legislators 
did not think of enumerating all possible Christian 
sects, and providing, that whenever any one of them 
should erect a place of worship in Cambridge, the 
students might attend there. And ihis is v^ hat is 
called illiberality. Other churches are now erected, 
and the students are allowed to attend any. which they 
please. Ii is true, that the law was not altered, as 
soon as a new meeting-house was built ; but I am not 
aware, that any body asked for its alteration. There 
could hardly be a motive for it. since the practice was 
always more indulgent than the law. Any student 
might always applv to the President, and if he could 
satisfy him. that he had conscientious scruples, and 
was not merely capricious, might have those scmples 
gratified. It is not a great many years, since there 
was a Jew in Harvard College, who \^as expressly 
permitted to pass Saturday with friends of his own 
faith in Boston, and to abstain from all Christian ex- 



41 

ercises on the following day. Catholics have been 
there also, and they were allowed to attend the Cath- 
olic church in Boston, on Sundays, and on all other 
holydays, obligatory according to their religion, nu- 
merous as they are, and they were excused from any 
attendance in College on those days. I have heard of 
a Sandemanian, too, who was expressly permitted to 
worship no where, and to pass the Sabbath in his 
father's house, and all this under the old law. What 
can we do, or what can we say, to secure ourselves 
against such attacks as these ? 

But it is alleged, that the prayers are made by the 
Professors in Theology, and may pervert the minds of 
the pupils. Surely, no one in New-England can con- 
tend, that so large a family should not have any morn- 
ing and evening prayers. It is true, that the Theologi- 
cal Professors pray ; but who else should pray ? And, 
after all, what is the objection to their prayers. The 
Rev. Dr. Codman, who is incapable of perverting the 
truth, for the benefit of any cause, states it distinctly 
thus ; ' I do not pretend to say, that the officiating 
Professors will introduce subjects of controversy into 
their prayers ; I l)elieve them to be too wise, and 
too serious. But if consistent with themselves, they 
will certainly omit many things, which the children of 
the orthodox part of the community have been accus- 
tomed to hear from the lips of their pious parents, at 
the domestic altar.' Now, Sir, what is this charge ? 
It is expressly admitted, that the prayers will contain 
no matter of controversy ; nothing to startle the most 
timid conscience. But then they will omit some pe- 
G 



42 

culiar doctrines. The objection is. not that they con- 
tain Sectarianism, but that they omit Sectarianism. 
That is the charge, that is the sin, and that is the 
truth. 

It has also been asserted, that none but Unitarians 
are ever appointed to office, in Harvard College, and 
this assertion has been so often repeated without con- 
tradiction, that it seems to be taken for granted that 
it is true, and that men are appointed to ofhce there 
because they are Unitarians. Let ns, at last, inquire 
into the facts. On a recent occasion, when a gentle- 
man whom the Corporation thought the best qualified 
for an ofdce in their gift, was asked if he would ac- 
cept it in case of his election ; he expressed his willing- 
ness to do so : but thought it fair to inform the Cor- 
poration beforehand, (having, no doubt, heard all these 
reports about its Sectarianism.) that he was not a 
Unitarian but a Trinitarian. With this information 
the Board proceeded to the election, and he was 
chosen unanimously : not for his Trinitarianism : this 
had no influence one way or the other ; but on ac- 
count of his titness for the office. 

Since I began this letter. Sir, I have taken a list of 
the College officers, and marked the names of all, who 
have been appointed within ten years : selecting that 
period not with any reference to the result, but be- 
cause I thought it Ions enough, and was persuaded 
that nobody will hold us responsible for the sins of 
our predecessors, generation before generation. There 
is but one member of the Corporation, who has been 
in it so long. I did not know to what religious sects 



I 



45 

one half of the persons, whose names I noted down, 
belonged, but sent to Cambridge to obtain informatior; 
on this point, and will now state to jou the result ol 
my inquiry. Among these names are those of four 
Professors, whose instructions are confined entirely tc 
graduates, and who receive nothing from the College 
treasury, two in Law, and two in Divinity. The 
reasons for not putting Trinitarians into the Theologi- 
cal school, have been above considered, and besides 
one of these two Professors w^as appointed by the 
Founders of the Professorship themselves, who estab- 
lished the office only on condition, that the present 
incumbent should first hold it. The case is the same 
with one of the Professors of Law ; he was appointee 
by the Founder. The other was selected by the Cor- 
poration, and my informant tells me now, though I did 
not know it before, that he is a Unitarian. The only 
permanent officers having any connexion with the un- 
dergraduates, or receiving any pay from the treasury, 
w^ho have been chosen within that period, are the Presi- 
dent, whom I consider orthodox according to Hollis, 
though I do not mean to call him a Trinitarian ; and 
the following persons ; the Librarian, the Steward, 
the Janitor, the Professors of Chemistry, German, and 
Latin, three Tutors, the Instructers, in French, Ital- 
ian, and Elocution, the Curator of the Botanical Gar- 
den, and assistant Steward, in all fourteen. Of these, 
I understand, that three are Catholics, that one is of 
the Evangelical reformed Lutheran Creed, one a Cal- 
vinist, one a Sandemanian, that one attends the 
Episcopal church, and one belongs to a family of 



44 

Quakers ; eight in the whole ; and I suppose these 
sects to be all Trinitarian. The other six, I am 
told, are Unitarians. Besides these, the two per- 
sons employed by the Treasurer and Secretary of the 
College to keep their books, receive compensation for 
their services. One of them is a Unitarian, and the 
other a Calvinist. The three or four Proctors usually 
there, are chosen from year to year, from among those 
graduates, who are residing in Cambridge, and pursu- 
ing the studies of their respective professions. It is 
said that one of those now there is a Calvinist. If 
they are in general Unitarians, which I presume to be 
the case, there is this plain reason for it. They are 
selected froni among the graduates of Harvard, be- 
cause these are best qualified for the office, and if the 
Calvinists of the day will not send their sons there, 
how can we choose them ? Let Calvinistic young 
men go to Cambridge to be educated, and distinguish 
themselves by their talents, and diligence, and good 
conduct, and they will be promoted to office accord- 
ing to their merits. Or if they are not, let them com- 
plain as loudly as they please. 

With regard to the distribution of College honors 
and benefices among the students, there is not the 
slightest suspicion in this vicinity, among those who 
know any thing about the College, that it is influ- 
enced in any manner whatever by any party feeling, 
religious or political.* 

■^ The effect, which these benefices or alloAvances to poor students 
produce on the number of undergraduates, has already been alluded to, 
page 8, and is strikingly evinced in the history of the College. There 



45 

But not a little noise has been made about the 
Union of Church and State. The difficulty of an- 
swering this charge arises from that of comprehending 
its precise meaning. Does it mean that our Executive, 
Legislative or Judicial Departments control the deci- 
sions of any individual on religious subjects, or that 
any religious sect or party, controls the decisions of 
either of those departments on civil subjects? Can 
any man in his senses assert this ? There was a time, 
when Church and State were united in Massachusetts, 
and it was the fault of the age, and not of the illustri- 
ous men who lived in it. But that time has g(me by, 
and the Legislature will take good care that it shall 
not return, at least in this generation. 

The main business of the College in that day, was 
to teach Theology, one particular modification of 
Theology. In this enlightened age, a public educa- 
tion embraces the whole circle of the sciences and the 
liberal arts, and Theology forms only a very small 
part of it. To let a jealousy, therefore, against the 
manner, in which this one branch is taught, extend it- 
self to all the others, and give rise to reproaches against 
the whole Institution, is something less than candour 
and even than justice. There is no fear that the 
State will intermeddle with religious fahii ; and I 

were more students there in the ten years following 1813, than usual, 
and as the same objections were urged against the College then as now, 
the only reason that can be given for it, is that during that period, the 
State granted to the College twenty-five hundred dollars a year for 
the use of poor and meritorious students. When that grant ceased, 
the number of students became somewhat less, but there has not been 
at any time any gradual and continued declension in the number of the 
undergraduates, as tlic enemies of the College so frequently assert. 



46 

believe that the great majority of Christians among 
us, of every persuasion, and indeed, of every profession 
and pursuit, are fully satisfied, that the days of Eccle- 
siastical domination, whether over civil government or 
private conscience, are ended, and that all religious 
Instructers, who would maintain their proper dignity 
or influence, must be content to teach and cease to 
dictate. 

But then it is objected, that the Executive and one 
Branch of the Legislature, form part of a Board of 
Overseers, for confirming or annulling the election of 
Officers of the College, and other proceedings of the 
Corporation. Now, one w^ould think this must be a 
security against sectarianism, instead of an encourage- 
ment of it ; unless these departments and the people, 
who choose them, are themselves sectarians. And is 
not something of the same kind done in relation" to 
Amherst ? Are not some of the Trustees of that In- 
stitution appointed by the two Branches of the Legisla- 
ture ; and this without objection ? 

These appeals to the people, however, against the 
influence of public officers, annually elected by the 
people themselves, are not likely to produce much 
effect ; and it gives us some confidence in the good- 
ness of our cause to find, that many of those, who are 
most zealous in accusing the College of Sectarianism, 
show what spirit they are of, by bringing the same 
charge against the Legislature and the Judiciary of 
the Commonwealth. 

But the complaint urged against Harvard with the 
greatest zeal, and no doubt with the greatest sincerity 5, 



47 

is that it is not orthodox ; and this is probably the real 
difficulty. The College is condemned, not because it 
is in the hands of a Sect, but because it is not in the 
hands of the right Sect, While it was Orthodox, in 
the sense of those, who thus complain, all was just as 
it should be, and it was the duty and the privilege of the 
State to protect, and even to support it. But now, when 
it is supposed to be under the influence of a different 
Sect, now it is to be cut off and abandoned. Is not 
this calling on the State to treat different Sects in 
different manners, and introducing into religious sub- 
jects that very Civil Power, whose interference in them 
is professedly deprecated ? If it must be under the 
control of some Sect, as they allege it must, (though 
I know not why) it ought to be a matter of perfect 
indifference to the State, as a Civil Power, which 
Sect that is, and each Sect, as it happens to be in 
possession of it, ought to be equally protected. 

The State, however, ought not to give funds, it is 
said, for the advancement of any one Religious party. 
To this, I heartily agree, and I presume that whatever 
the State shall give to the College, will be given in 
such a manner, that it cannot be applied to the Theo- 
logical Department. But we are told, that even those 
funds, which have heretofore been given for the benefit 
of the undergraduates alone, icill be applied, or may 
be applied, to the use of the graduates in this De- 
partment. No doubt, Sir, these, or any other funds 
may be misapplied, and used for purposes, to which 
they cannot rightfully be appropriated. But the pos- 
sibility of abuses can never be prevented. That they 



48 

icill be thus misapplied, is a strong assertion. If there 
is any reason for such an apprehension, it ought to 
excite the strictest vigilance. When they are so 
misapplied, or when there is any good ground for 
suspecting it, let the abuse be ascertained, corrected, 
and, if need be, punished by some competent legal 
tribunal. Let the Supreme Judicial Court take up 
the matter and decide it, as they decide other things, 
upon distinct charge, proof and conviction, but do not 
let us have sentence and execution without trial, hear- 
ins: and jud^rment. accordins: to law. 

And now, Sir, having taken some notice of all the 
charges, which 1 have heard of against the College, 
without knowing the sources of many of them, I 
submit the charges and the answers to your candid 
judgment. Let those, who think of crushins: that 
Institution, consider what it is. It is not the Officers, 
hi^h or low : these are bat its servants. The Young 
Men are the Institution. Let its enemies go and look 
at them, and see if they have the heart to crush them. 
And if they have the heart, let them see if they have 
the power. Xo, Sir, they have it not. These are the 
ornaments of Harvard, her jewels and her pride. 
They are her support, also : and they can support her, 
and will support her, and the People of Massachu- 
setts ^vill support them, and their cause therefore will 
assuredly triumph. 

I have the honor to be. Sir, with the highest respect, 
your most obedient servant, 



F. C. GRAY 



Boston, dpril 16, 1S31. 



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